Casting before using skulls would not only make the game a lot harder, but also "re-invent" how you play the game, as you can no longer strategically make skull moves for the opponent (to keep him busy).

Mind you, I'm not saying that's a bad or good thing... just saying it changes the whole game.It also means the whole PVP reward system would need to be redesigned as well, since it gets a lot tougher.

A system where you could at least say which mob should cast first, kinda like your system, but then just the cast order of the mobs, would make it more fun to set up your defense teams though.

I'm pretty sure you're going to get the same system that they released on console. I just can't see them going back to the drawing board on this when they've already released an AI customization interface on one of their platforms.

If you don't know, you can customize your defence team AI using 7 sliders that increase or decrease the priority of each of the 7 gem types (6 colours plus skulls). Apparently, these sliders not only affect the priority for gem matching, but also influence spell selection in some unspecified way. I'll see if I can find the dev post that described this and link it below if I do. It doesn't do exactly what you're describing, but it does have a noticeable impact on gameplay.

Edit:Here is the post I was thinking of. It is in response to a question of whether changing the gem priority sliders would also affect the choice of gem colour that the Guardians would choose as the 2nd colour when casting their spells. This was an effect that I don't think any of us had ever thought about before.

Technically, yes, changing that value does affect what color is being chosen, although it does prioritize with other factors as well which will affect the decision (e.g. the amount of gems on the board). Changing this value though will change other factors of the game though. I wouldn't recommend having any gems changed "all the way", as this could affect all gems your AI will match, and will possibly take purple gems over something like skulls, or casting spells. Just as a warning with the Ge…

You guys are sure these sliders really work? Cause whatever i do with them, the AI always do the same

Saltypatra:

The AI sliders most definitely work.

@Rickygervais Yep they work, they work too well. If you move a slider all the way the AI will completely ignore that color/Skull, a month ago I tested them quite a bit. SMALL adjustments is all you need.

So i puted green blue flag and both color to the max and skull to the left cause i wanted skullbeard full first then use his magic to refill bone dragon

AI was going for brown or purple first and when skullbeard was full he wasn't using his spell and was going for skull, for some reason gorghota and skullbeard doesn't fit well together, so i tried to change gorghota for jonny bonze and the AI was acting totaly differently

I will never understand why people who play casual games want to make them harder and their time investment longer.

If the AI improves dramatically, I will quit. Not out of rage, just the simple fact of finding something better to do with my time than lose frustrating match after frustrating match when I could be playing one of 1,000 other Match-Three games.

Even if the defense rewards became amazing, I would quit. Defense isn't fun: it's a background process.

This game is 90% RNG.The AI on defense is what makes it playable. (And palatable.)

I had assumed they understood that--thus, the game--but if they don't, the AI will be the first nail in a rapidly closing coffin.